Forsaken
by Procne
Summary: AU. Benders are persecuted, the King is ill, and a powerful rebellion is forming. Zuko has to choose between the Monarchy he grew up in, and the new friends he's made. Rated T to be safe.
1. Exiled

**Completely and totally AU. That's all I have to say.**

"No!" Zuko screamed, fighting with the closed iron gates until his hands bled. The manor guards didn't even look at him. Why should they? He was a Bender, the lowliest form of human being, lucky to be disowned instead of killed on the spot. That had been discussed, too. They seemed to think that giving him his life was some sort of charity – death would have been easier to swallow.

The rain began to fall as he collapsed, sobbing. Insult to injury. Somewhere, the gods were laughing at him, and they weren't the only ones. Azula sat in the third floor's bay window, grinning so widely that it seemed to split her face in half. She'd been the one to tell their father, Zuko knew it. He'd announced that she was a Bender, too, but the brat could cry on command, and the outburst was taken as a lie to save his own skin. She waved cheerily at him, a small flame forming in the palm of her hand. He responded with a gesture that would have gotten him in worlds of trouble had he been inside the house. His sister chose to ignore it.

Zuko stood shakily. He had to find cover from the rain; the temperature would only keep dropping now that clouds blanketed the sky. A quick search through his pockets only produced a few coins. He hoped it was enough to buy a room at an inn. He would stay close by until his father changed his mind. Give it a day or two; he'd be back in the manor house by the end of the week. He couldn't believe they'd abandon him. Just a day or two... He had to keep telling himself that. By the time he reached the inn, he almost believed it.

The Gilded Dragon lay down the street in all its brazen glory. It had always seemed gaudy the other times he'd passed it, but today it was a welcome sight. The innkeeper, a short fat man whose breath smelled of pipe smoke, greeted him at the door. His nose wrinkled at the sight of Zuko's muddy clothing. "Its thirty-six coppers to stay here, kid," he grumbled. Zuko hesitated in the act of reaching for his money. People _used _coppers? That was just the stuff you gave beggars to make them go away. Nobody actually spent them. "That's three silver pieces," the fat man sneered, though his expression still suggested that he thought Zuko the type to carry copper.

"I know that," he snapped, thrusting a gold piece into the man's hand and taking a seat at one of the tables.

"'Course you do, sir," the innkeeper replied promptly, his demeanor starkly different now that he had money. He examined the coin conspicuously, catching the gaze of practically everyone in the room by the time he'd verified that it was, indeed, gold. "Anything else I can do for you, sir?"

"You can give me my change."

The innkeeper winced. Apparently he thought he would get away with keeping the extra. "Of course," he said smoothly, all disappointment hidden from his voice. Zuko snatched the proffered coins from the fat man, afraid if he left them too long, the innkeeper might just pocket them again. The innkeeper walked away, grumbling to himself.

The chair beside him screeched as it was dragged across the floor and someone sat down. "There are other tables you could've sat at," Zuko commented sourly.

"I know what ya are," the man said, ignoring him entirely. He had the air of someone who'd been quite happily drunk for some time. Still, Zuko stiffened at the assertion. The drunk was probably just trying to scare him; there was no need to get worked up.

"You do?" he asked calmly.

"Yup." How? Azula couldn't have gotten here so quickly, and no one outside the manor knew, and even those were fairly few. And of those few, none would tell. "They dun like your sort 'round here. Listen," the drunk scooted closer; Zuko scooted back, "I won' tell no one if you share those pretty coins of yours." Ah. He relaxed a little bit. The drunk had probably made it all up to get himself a few more drinks. The idiot didn't know anything.

"And if I refuse?"

"You can't fight the whole inn."

"What, all five of them?" He refrained from commenting that most of them were drunk, besides. Even a normal person could take on this lot without much trouble. His chair toppled over without warning. In an instant, he was on the ground, a dagger at his throat.

"'E stole my money," the drunk announced, one hand on the dagger hilt, the other holding Zuko down. A few of the other patrons stood, cracking their knuckles. "Five?" the man whispered so only Zuko could hear. "Looks like you can't even take on one." His speech wasn't slurred anymore. It'd all been an act.

Zuko kicked the man sharply in the chest, sending him barreling into the table. He stood just in time to counter a punch from one of the other patrons, a large man who obviously hadn't expected the parry, and tripped over the fallen chair with a loud thud. The third man just sat back down without attacking, not wanting to get involved in a battle he would lose. The fourth person hadn't even stood to begin with. That left one person unaccounted for. He whirled around; the man was coming at him with a short sword. He was too close; there was no time to react... Flames sprung from the floor without his leave, stopping the attacker dead in his tracks. The whole inn was staring at him in horror, frozen from the shock. Zuko ran.

It only took a few moments for the inn's residents to recover and give chase; he could hear their footsteps splashing behind him. What's worse, they were gaining on him. Something snagged his wrist, pulling him into an adjacent alleyway and tossing him roughly to the ground. A girl in a blue fur-lined jacket stood over him, though she was watching the street he'd just come from. "Wha—"

"If you plan on living, you'll sit there, and you'll shut up," she hissed. Water wound itself off the cobblestone street to spiral around her arm. A Bender. Zuko shut up. "They're coming," she muttered, tossing the water into the street where it froze instantly. "That should slow them down. Come on," she said to Zuko, grabbing his hand and running down the alley.

"Where are we—"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?"

"And a lot of good that did you."

The girl stopped suddenly. "Fine. Get away from them on your own," she said, crossing her arms and turning to face him. "You're doing a pretty poor job of it so far."

"I don't need your help," Zuko said bitterly.

She seemed to think about that for a moment before saying, almost to herself, "The hell you don't." She pulled up her hood and started to walk away. "Follow if you want," she told him with a shrug. "_I'm _going this way."

Zuko turned to head the other direction, but stopped. That was where they'd come from. The men from the inn would be that way. His options were limited to following the Bender girl, or getting captured. Cursing under his breath, he ran to catch up with the Waterbender. "So good of you to join me," she said sweetly.

"That was dirty," he growled.

"What was?" she asked innocently. Zuko wanted to scream. "Turn right."

"Will you at least tell me where we're going?"

"My house." He opened his mouth to protest, but she waved him to silence. "You're not staying at an inn; not after what happened at that Gilded Dragon place. You've no sense of discretion. Don't argue, its true. And I'm not about to leave you out on the street. So, we're going to my house."

"Joy," Zuko said sarcastically.

"The words you're looking for are 'Thank You'."

Zuko sighed. He had to admit, anything was better than the street, and this wouldn't cost money like an inn. "Thank you," he repeated reluctantly. The girl nodded to herself, but made no reply.

They walked in silence the rest of the way. The house was fairly large, though not nearly as big as his manor. The only lights were on the ground floor, he noticed. Perhaps everyone else had gone to bed. The girl knocked on the door in a very deliberate pattern. "Katara!" someone inside exclaimed. The double doors burst open, revealing a boy, about Zuko's age, with short hair pulled back in a ponytail. "What took you so long? The meeting –" he cut off suddenly as he noticed Zuko. "Oh. _That's_ what took you so long."

"Sokka, don't be rude," Katara chided.

Sokka rolled his eyes. "Is he coming to the meeting, too?"

"What meeting?" Zuko asked. Katara bit her lip; Sokka cursed.

"Come inside," the boy said, finally. He shut the doors behind them, flipping every latch and lock. Not even a really determined thief could get through those doors. "You didn't tell him?" Sokka hissed.

"There wasn't time!"

"He's on our side, at least? Tell me he's on our side."

"He's on our side."

"Don't I get a say in that?" Zuko exclaimed.

"You didn't tell him _anything_, did you?" Sokka asked accusingly, ignoring Zuko altogether. Katara shook her head. "Anything at all?" She shook her head again. "So now I have to explain, don't I?" Nod. "You know I hate doing this." Nod. "Gee, thanks."

"My pleasure." Sokka rolled his eyes again.

"Welcome," he said to Zuko, "to the headquarters for the Bender Rebellion."


	2. Revolution

**O I have reviews! I love you all, I hope you know that. huggles In response, Iroh is coming in chapter three or four, and the pairings are currently undecided. **

"You're terrorists!" Zuko exclaimed, horrified. He couldn't be here. They were the largest and most destructive rebellion force in the country! They were trying to oust the royal family! That was...not his problem anymore, he realized. He'd been disowned; he was little more than a commoner, now, perhaps less, since he was a Bender. No, he couldn't think that way. They'd take him back; it was just a matter of time. That was all.

"We are not!" Sokka replied, sounding equally appalled. "We stopped being terrorists when we decided to overthrow the government. We're insurgents, now," he declared proudly.

"And that's better?"

"Well, not if you're the government, I imagine, but the public seems to think so," Sokka explained with a shrug.

"If you don't want to help, that's fine," Katara said, talking right over Zuko's objection. "But you're safer here than on the street. Now come on. You have to meet everyone." He tried to protest, but she wouldn't listen. She grabbed his wrist and dragged him behind her, much to Sokka's amusement; she was a lot stronger than she looked.

'Everyone' was actually only a few people, spread out in a spacious room completely devoid of furniture. One girl had Earthbent a chair out of the stone wall; everyone else was standing or sat on the floor. Katara let go of Zuko's hand, apparently convinced he wasn't about to run away, and waved at someone. No one responded to the gesture. An Airbender, carrying a strange orange glider, suddenly landed in front of them; Zuko nearly fell over from surprise. "Is this everybody, Aang?" Katara asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah," the Airbender sighed. "A lot of people bailed after what happened yesterday. We've got two people of each element, though!" he added cheerily.

"That's great, Aang," Katara said half-heartedly. "Oh!" she exclaimed, turning suddenly to face Zuko. "Aang, this is...erm..."

"Li," he lied. No need to get deeper into this than he needed to be, Zuko reasoned.

"Li," she repeated. "This is Aang. He's our acting leader, at the moment." Zuko grunted. She was trying to make him seem more important than he was. All acting leader meant was that Aang was the only one brave enough, or stupid enough, to step up to the plate when the real leader was injured or captured.

"Hi!" Aang said, the epitome of bliss. "Let me guess...you're an Earthbender, right?"

"Firebender," Zuko growled.

Aang pouted, disappointed. "That was my next guess..."

"Of course it was," Katara assured him, patting his shoulder. The Airbender brightened immediately.

"You have to see the plans, Katara. I think it'll work this time!" He darted to the other side of the room, and held up a piece of parchment.

"Let's hope so, Aang," she sighed, following him, leaving Zuko behind.

_Good riddance_, he thought, turning for the door. A wall of earth sprung up in front of him. Zuko spun around angrily; a young girl with black hair and cloudy eyes glared back. "Leaving so soon?"

"That's none of your business."

"Your name's not Li."

He couldn't respond, too taken aback by the sudden change in subject. "H-how...?" he managed.

"When you're blind, you tend to remember voices," she replied with a shrug.

"I've never met you," Zuko insisted.

"Then you've never been to court? You sound too stuck up to be a peasant."

"I told you, my name's Li."

"What does that have to do with being a peasant?"

"You said my name wasn't Li!"

"Yeah, three sentences ago!"

Zuko threw his hands up in exasperation. This was going nowhere. The wall of earth still barred his way. He kicked it, somehow managing to_ not_ hurt his foot. The girl snorted at his futile effort.

"Look," she said, "I know your name's Zuko. You shouldn't tell anyone, though. Everyone here hates the government. You would have to have a death wish to say who you really are."

"But you just said it out loud!" Zuko exclaimed.

"No one was listening, Captain Paranoia. I'm not stupid."

"That's debatable," he muttered under his breath. The ground rose up beneath him, then dropped away suddenly, leaving him sprawled awkwardly on the stone floor. He was almost standing, rubbing bruised elbows, when the girl tapped her foot lightly, and he was knocked to the ground again. Zuko didn't bother standing back up, this time. He sat in silence, trying desperately to wake up from this, which had to be a really bad nightmare.

"You want a chair?" the girl offered after a while.

"No," he snapped, trying to get more comfortable by leaning up against the wall. It didn't help much. She shrugged, summoning up a chair for herself. Who was she? He was sure he didn't know her, but she knew who he was the moment she heard his voice. That hadn't just been lucky guessing. No one was _that_ lucky. "You've been to court?" he asked finally.

"Yup. Most boring thing in the world."

Zuko wasn't quite sure if he believed that. She was wearing peasant clothes – _boys_ peasant clothes. "You don't look like a lady," he observed.

"Neither do you," she said simply. Zuko scowled, but managed to ignore the comment.

"Since you know my name, its only fair I know yours," he said with all the patience he could muster.

"Toph." Zuko frowned. Aristocracy had a nasty habit of keeping up to date with other aristocracy, and there wasn't anyone named Toph. There used to be, but she'd died quite a while ago. It didn't add up. As though she could read his mind, the Earthbender added, "And I died two years ago. Funny what a few rumors can do to a person's health, huh? There was a funeral and everything," she said sourly. "Its amazing the things you can cover up with the right amount of money."

"They faked your death."

"They found out I was a Bender. No sane aristocrat would admit to having a Bender in their family, so they couldn't turn me in, and hiding my existence was easier to cover up than killing me. I imagine something similar happened to you," Toph said, turning to look at him.

"They threw me out," Zuko admitted reluctantly.

"That sucks."

"Li! Li! Come over here!" Katara yelled from across the room. His assumed name failed to register: Zuko didn't even look up.

"Sounds like the Sugar Queen needs your help."

"Who?"

"Li!" Katara shouted, louder this time. Zuko jumped up.

"You know, fake names work better if you can remember them," Toph mused.

"Shut up."

Katara passed a map to him when he walked up. At least, he thought it was a map; whoever made it was in desperate need of a ruler. Zuko flipped it over a few times, but still couldn't make heads or tails of it. The Waterbender snatched it from him, turning it what he could only assume was right-side-up.

"It's the jail complex south of here," she explained. "They're holding Benders there. We mean to break them out."

"That's not my problem," Zuko said, thrusting the map back into her hands.

"You're a Bender, too. That makes it your problem!" Katara snapped. "Look," she said with a sigh. "If we don't get them out, they face the gallows in the morning. We've got a plan, but we're one person short. I'm not about to let them die. We need you. Are you with us, or not?"

Zuko groaned. He was in enough trouble already; he didn't want to go around breaking the law. But he didn't want to leave those people to die, either. He looked around. The average age of the room couldn't have been over fifteen, but they all seemed experienced. It was only breaking the law if you got caught. For his sake, he hoped these people were as strong as they looked.

"I'm in."

**I'll have you know that I never update this quickly. Ever. Its only because its Spring Break. Many thanks to Mirani for commandeering my computer when I had writer's block, and writing a good portion of the Zuko-Toph dialogue. You should all give her hugs.**

**And now for a few random facts that Procne is too lazy to work into the narrative! Yay!**

**The King is Azulon. Ozai's gonna take power later. **

**Zuko has no scar. There's no reason in this world for him to have it, so its not there. He'll get a scar later, 'kay?**

**Mirani's screaming at me that I'm "revealing all my authorly secrets" so I'm gonna stop now. Sorries.**

**Reviews are love. **


End file.
